twice round the block

Good video @Temp It's not just LBC bricks that are the issue. I've just had 4500 machine made bricks from a local maker, luckily we're doing Old English Garden Bond so every forth course is headers. What would have been a large pile scrap bricks due to shape, size and damage normally. We we're able to cut them all so we could still use them as headers in the bond. For the cost of the things it is getting bad, plus you have to check every brick when you pick it up before laying it.

The problem with Check a Trade is it's full off cowboys, who have to pay to advertise on there and all there friends do their reviews for them. Quality time served brick layers "never" advertise, you may see them building nice curved garden walls for a local home owner, there the guy's you need a phone number from, certainly not check a trade. As for your recourse from check a trade, best of luck with that. With any build most of the work is in the ground getting it up to dpc, so why make a pigs ear out of the rest of it. A bit of forward thought and measuring walls out to get the bond so it balances is half the battle and getting special shaped bricks ordered in 6 months before the build starts. Sorry if both my posts on this topic come across as harsh or negative but it would have taken an extra day to lay out the job and a few ££ for the angled bricks for this job to be spot on. Confession Time. I built a retaining wall for a shop front in Aylesbury High Street many years ago, but I had a 2 foot gap behind the hoarding to construct this wall. When the hoarding was removed some weeks later when the shop opened. I noticed two of my bricks in the bond we're out of level ( wonky). No one else would probably notice but I used to cringe everytime I walked past.

Shocking. The bond is wrong in places, and should have been worked out at the start so it looked balanced. What's going on with the external corner bond? Should have ordered bricks for the bay window, unless you weren't prepared to pay the extra for them. The extension bond is not level with the existing bond. Does he own a spirit level.? Is this his first job out of college? Has building control seen it? Should have mixed his brick colours up a bit more as he's got a few courses of dark reds together. Was he recommended to you, or did he come from trust a trader who are worse.. Glad I don't have to look at it everytime I approach the front door.

Put dehumidifiers in doors on full bore to dry it out as fast as possible, when the plaster cracks you know it's dry and ready for painting. Paint outside the day before the first frosts. note. do the opposite to the above.

@Mr Punter correct Landscape materials, plants and trees are expensive so if you can get a plan together it's very worthwhile submitting it along with your building plans to be able to claim the vat back in a few years time. You need a landscape designer not some random recommended gardner off faceache.

Not sure how they plan to fiance buying the plot and a build, but it's a huge risk for you if it all falls out of bed in the next two years..... change of government, another pandemic, global war.. everything you have no control over. Your investment your gamble

Every one expects to have to pay a reasonable fee providing an architect can manage to drawer up a set of plans that will go through planning the first time round. The client shouldn't have to pay for versions 2, 3, 4 & 5 because the architect can't do his job properly. And when he does the detailed drawings for building regulations it would be nice if the rsj shown was actually resting on something at the other end, instead of being supported by a sky hook.

Put a flue balloon in it.

Cut the bricks. The lintels will be bedded down on muck. You can use layers of coursing tiles or slivers of cut bricks with muck in-between to get levels spot on.

A ripper only works on very old nails where the slates have already started slipping. If the nails holding them are half decent galvanised ones all you'll end up doing with a ripper is breaking slates and bending the nails.

Do you have planning permission on the plot yet? The time it takes to do the demo, clear the site, get the drainage and other services in including water harvesting now, set out the site, excavate footings, get footings and slab in there goes a large chunk of budget and the first 6 weeks, and that's if your good. Take your rose tinted glasses off and take a reality check. Not sure what your day job's are but it's got nothing to do with the construction industry. Sorry if this reply sounds harsh but I done my first self build in 1984, spent years in the building game, just about to do build number 4 for a family member, plus all the other bit's I've done for private clients in between.

I can take asbestos to our local tip for free providing I double wrap it.

It's not even a roofing membrane unless your using metal profile sheets on your roof, it's normally used as a vapour barrier on timber frame builds.

I purchased a Zanussi dishwasher and the so called stainless steel drum corroded through within 6 months and flooded the kitchen.

Currently 17% of houses for sale on rightmove are ex rental properties. Be prepared to get it back needing a refurbishment before you can sell it. Your house your risk. Personally I think it's had it's day, and it's about time the government got to grips with the social housing crisis, it's not down to private landlords.

Can you tap into the adjacent brook? Does the brook flow all year? If you can't feed your pond with a 4 inch pipe from the brook you may struggle to keep your pond in the summer month's, as the wind and sun will evaporate all the water fast. How are you going to line your pond to make it water tight? Can you put a sluice in the other end of the pond to return water to the brook.? Any pond where the water does not circulate will soon become stagnant. Water running from a brook will also contain silt particles, these will reduce levels in a pond fast if not controlled especially from a fast flowing brook. The above are problems I had to overcome to make it all work. The only publication I could find on the subject at the time was pond and lakes from the game conservatory that had some useful information in it.

I contacted the environment agency, explained what I wanted to do. They sent one of their engineers down for a site meeting, who was very knowledgeable and came up with some great ideas of diverting a feeder stream while I had a 22 ton excavator in. Four months later we had a landscaped acre lake, complete with fishing stages and a boat dock and thousands of margin and water plants in place. You need somewhere to loose the muck, and there will be plenty, and it's too costly to truck it away.

You can have my stone bath for £100, no hairline cracks and it holds water. May need a quick clean

Thank you for the extra photos. In your very first photo it looks as if the brickwork reveals inside the fireplace are not tied into the rear wall, and there is a void on both the left and right sides. Is this the case? As the surround was just for decorative purposes I can't see a problem with a decorator removing it and making good. I'm more concerned about the construction of the fire place and what's going on with that.

Can you post a photo of the whole wall that the fire place is attached to taken from the other side of the room, so I can see the ceiling line as well.

Plot, if you can find one. You'll be in competition with lot's of small developer's. Then having to sit on it for 18 month's as the local planning department try and make a decision of reducing your 5 bed home down to 2.

Can you put joist hangers in on to the wall plate. Install joists with noggins and tack out with plaster board conventionally. Leaves a large void above that could take a fair amount of insulation.

Crushed cotswold stone. ie. gold dust. Used for roads and parking areas by the National Trust at stately home's etc. MOT Type 1 below, gold dust on top compacted with a vibrating roller.

Because your house was a self build by the previous owner, you don't know what his skill set was, or if he had any. Looks like the ceiling boards didn't have scrim joints to open like that. Yet another crack above a doorway with an unknown type of lintel. Did you ever get a price from a kit house company so you know where you're maximum renovation budget should be? Gutting this house and renovating it could cost nearly as much as a well insulated, modern new build. Fact. it is faster to demolish a property and build new than it is to renovate an existing one.